Snowmageddon was really "snow" big deal in New York City. Public transportation and schools closed along with many offices and vehicles were banned from the streets. All for a total of 8 inches in Manhattan. Boston and Connecticut received the brunt of the storm, accumulating about two feet of snow over the course of the evening. So what was the economic damage of Snowstorm Juno, the blizzard that caused five governors to declare a state of emergency?
The big picture economic impact is will be small, says Paul Walsh, vice president of weather analytics at The Weather Channel. “This is happening on a Monday and Tuesday at the end of January. Things will rebound pretty quickly—New York will go right back to business today though Boston will remain shutdown.” Walsh says that when these one-off weather events occur there is typically an equal and opposite reaction on the backside of them to smooth out the economic impact.
Still with store closures and more than 7,700 flights canceled, we should see at least some short-term losses. New York City deployed and paid for 7,000 National Guard troops, 760 plows and 50,000 pounds of salt in what turned out to be a lighter-than-expected storm.
Some retailers benefited from the storm. Food delivery service Fresh Direct reported a 22% increase in orders the Sunday before the storm, and supermarket chain Wegman's reported record-breaking sales.
“There’s a fine line you walk down in terms of making sure you get the right message out so that people take action but don’t go over the top and overdo it,” says Walsh.
Winter isn’t over, warns Walsh. While the storm didn’t hit New York City as hard as it might have that doesn’t mean it won’t next time.
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